30When the priest Phinehas and the chiefs of the congregation, the heads of the families of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the Reubenites and the Gadites and the Manassites spoke, they were satisfied. 31The priest Phinehas son of Eleazar said to the Reubenites and the Gadites and the Manassites, “Today we know that the LORD is among us, because you have not committed this treachery against the LORD; now you have saved the Israelites from the hand of the LORD.”
32Then the priest Phinehas son of Eleazar and the chiefs returned from the Reubenites and the Gadites in the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the Israelites, and brought back word to them. 33The report pleased the Israelites; and the Israelites blessed God and spoke no more of making war against them, to destroy the land where the Reubenites and the Gadites were settled. 34The Reubenites and the Gadites called the altar Witness;d “For,” said they, “it is a witness between us that the LORD is God.”
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a Or to Geliloth
b Or to Geliloth
c Or make rebels of us
d Cn Compare Syr: Heb lacks Witness
22.1–8 Joshua’s farewell exhortation to the two and a half tribes located east of Jordan. This balances their appearance in 1.12–18.
22.4 Promises made in 1.13, 15 (cf. Deut 3.18–21) can now be honored because rest has been achieved (cf. 21.44). Go to your tents is the traditional call to disperse the national assembly (1 Kings 12.16).
22.5 The call to love the LORD (again in an address to all the tribes, 23.11) and to serve with all your heart and…soul evokes the prime stipulation of Deuteronomy’s commandment and instruction (in the Shema‘ in Deut 6.4–9, and repeatedly).
22.7 Manasseh occupies territory both east and west of the Jordan.
22.8 Sharing the spoil reflects Israel’s traditional custom in warfare (1 Sam 30.21–25).
22.9–34 Controversy over the altar of witness near the Jordan. Only one altar for sacrifice is permissible according to the law of Deut 12. The issue is whether this altar by the Jordan (v. 10) is proof of apostasy (vv. 16–20) or intended as a symbol of national unity and loyalty (vv. 22–29).
22.10 Great size seems to point to the altar’s intended function as a visible witness (vv. 27–28, 34).
22.11 On the side that belongs to the Israelites indicates the area west of the Jordan, the side belonging to the group referred to as “Israelites” in vv. 11–13. The story is told from the perspective of the western tribes, described as Israelites to the exclusion of the eastern tribes (see vv. 32, 33).
22.12 The whole assembly…gathered is wording almost identical to 18.1 (peaceful partitioning of the land), but the situation is inverted.
22.17 The sin at Peor. See Num 25.
22.18 The accepted notion of collective responsibility means that apostasy by one element of Israel endangers the entire nation (cf. the reference to Achan in v. 20; cf. ch. 7).
22.19 Perhaps the erection by the eastern tribes of an altar just to the west of the Jordan (v. 11) means that they think that territory east of Jordan is ritually unclean; if so it should be abandoned in favor of easy access to the LORD ’s tabernacle.
22.22 The eastern tribes begin with a liturgical exclamation that confesses their loyalty to the Lord (cf. 1 Kings 18.39).
22.27 That the altar will be a witness anticipates 24.27. The eastern tribes use a rhetoric of repetition, cataloging sacrifices three times in order to deny that they intend to offer them at their altar of witness (vv. 23, 26, 29) and here using a comparable list to affirm their intention to sacrifice properly at the legitimate altar.
22.28 No apostasy was ever intended. The altar is only a copy, a replica pointing to loyal worship at the true altar.
22.34 The altar’s name, “Witness,” does not actually appear in the Hebrew text. The altar’s function is to be a witness between us to the reality that the tribes all agree the LORD is God. This situation is similar to the struggle and truce between Jacob and Laban, also marked by a stone “witness” (Gen 31.43–54).
JOSHUA 23
Joshua Exhorts the People
1A long time afterward, when the LORD had given rest to Israel from all their enemies all around, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years, 2Joshua summoned all Israel, their elders and heads, their judges and officers, and said to them, “I am now old and well advanced in years; 3and you have seen all that the LORD your God has done to all these nations for your sake, for it is the LORD your God who has fought for you. 4I have allotted to you as an inheritance for your tribes those nations that remain, along with all the nations that I have already cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the west. 5The LORD your God will push them back before you, and drive them out of your sight; and you shall possess their land, as the LORD your God promised you. 6Therefore be very steadfast to observe and do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right nor to the left, 7so that you may not be mixed with these nations left here among you, or make mention of the names of their gods, or swear by them, or serve them, or bow yourselves down to them, 8but hold fast to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day. 9For the LORD has driven out before you great and strong nations; and as for you, no one has been able to withstand you to this day. 10One of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the LORD your God who fights for you, as he promised you. 11Be very careful, therefore, to love the LORD your God. 12For if you turn back, and join the survivors of these nations left here among you, and intermarry with them, so that you marry their women and they yours, 13know assuredly that the LORD your God will not continue to drive out these nations before you; but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a scourge on your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the LORD your God has given you.
14“And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one thing has failed of all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you; all have come to pass for you, not one of them has failed. 15But just as all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the LORD will bring upon you all the bad things, until he has destroyed you from this good land that the LORD your God has given you. 16If you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which he enjoined on you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from the good land that he has given to you.”
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23.1–16 Joshua’s farewell address is another of the edifying discourses that give structure to the Deuteronomistic History (see Introduction). See speeches by Moses (Deut 29–31), God (Josh 1), Samuel (1 Sam 12), Nathan (2 Sam 7), and Solomon (1 Kings 8). Joshua uses the same Deuteronomic rhetoric employed in ch. 1. Joshua’s speech falls into two parts (vv. 2b–10, 11–16), each displaying a form of envelope construction.
23.1 A long time afterward. Joshua’s great age (cf. 13.1) prompts a call for faithfulness and a word of warning. The LORD had given rest, the final occurrence of this declaration that the conquest is completed and total (1.13, 15; 21.44; 22.4).
23.2 Joshua summoned. The location is unclear. All Israel. This inclusive definition of Israel, the tribes on both sides of the river interacting and interdependent, is a special concern of the Deuteronomistic historian (see Introduction).
23.3–10 The first part of Joshua’s speech is framed by a description of the Divine Warrior (vv. 3, 9–10) focusing on the recent past and emphasizing that the Lord has indeed kept his promises (vv. 4–5).
23.4 In spite of what has been said in v. 1, some enemy nations remain. These will provide opportunities for additional divine victories (v. 5), but also temptations to religious infidelity (vv. 7, 12–13).
23.5 The LORD your God will complete the conquest unassisted.
23.6 Be very steadfast. Joshua echoes the exhortation
the Lord addressed to him in 1.6–9. Future survival requires that Israel as a whole imitate Joshua in undeviating obedience.
23.11–16 The second half of the speech turns the envelope inside out, thunderous warnings (vv. 11–13, 15–16) framing a compact echo of the first half (v. 14).
23.12 Intermarriage with alien peoples would necessarily form social relationships that would lead to religious infidelity (cf. Deut 7.3–4).
23.13 A snare and a trap imply limitations on national independence, while a scourge is an image of political oppression (1 Kings 12.11). The threat of exile from this good land is repeated three times (vv. 13, 15, 16).
23.14–15 The good news is that the Lord has been trustworthy in keeping past promises (21.45); the bad news is that the Lord’s consistency means that future threats will certainly take place as well.
23.16 You shall perish quickly. The concluding emphasis is on the threat of national destruction and expulsion from the land as just punishment (cf. vv. 13, 15).
JOSHUA 24
The Tribes Renew the Covenant
1Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves before God. 2And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Long ago your ancestors—Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor—lived beyond the Euphrates and served other gods. 3Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan and made his offspring many. I gave him Isaac; 4and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. 5Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt with what I did in its midst; and afterwards I brought you out. 6When I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, you came to the sea; and the Egyptians pursued your ancestors with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea.a 7When they cried out to the LORD, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and made the sea come upon them and cover them; and your eyes saw what I did to Egypt. Afterwards you lived in the wilderness a long time. 8Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan; they fought with you, and I handed them over to you, and you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you. 9Then King Balak son of Zippor of Moab, set out to fight against Israel. He sent and invited Balaam son of Beor to curse you, 10but I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he blessed you; so I rescued you out of his hand. 11When you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho, the citizens of Jericho fought against you, and also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I handed them over to you. 12I sent the hornetb ahead of you, which drove out before you the two kings of the Amorites; it was not by your sword or by your bow. 13I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and towns that you had not built, and you live in them; you eat the fruit of vineyards and oliveyards that you did not plant.
14“Now therefore revere the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15Now if you are unwilling to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
16Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods; 17for it is the LORD our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight. He protected us along all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed; 18and the LORD drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God.”
19But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the LORD, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. 20If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good.” 21And the people said to Joshua, “No, we will serve the LORD!” 22Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” 23He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.” 24The people said to Joshua, “The LORD our God we will serve, and him we will obey.” 25So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made statutes and ordinances for them at Shechem. 26Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a large stone, and set it up there under the oak in the sanctuary of the LORD. 27Joshua said to all the people, “See, this stone shall be a witness against us; for it has heard all the words of the LORD that he spoke to us; therefore it shall be a witness against you, if you deal falsely with your God.” 28So Joshua sent the people away to their inheritances.
Death of Joshua and Eleazar
29After these things Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being one hundred ten years old. 30They buried him in his own inheritance at Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
31Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work that the LORD did for Israel.
32The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem, in the portion of ground that Jacob had bought from the children of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for one hundred pieces of money;c it became an inheritance of the descendants of Joseph.
33Eleazar son of Aaron died; and they buried him at Gibeah, the town of his son Phinehas, which had been given him in the hill country of Ephraim.
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a Or Sea of Reeds
b Meaning of Heb uncertain
c Heb one hundred qesitah
24.1–28 The major section of ch. 24 describes a covenant made at Shechem at the end of the conquest era. Joshua has already built an altar and engaged in a covenant ceremony there (8.30–35).
24.2–13 A number of parallel recitals of God’s saving acts are also clearly related to covenant ceremonies (Ex 19.3b–6; Deut 6.20–25; 26.5–9).
24.1 A detailed list of participants stresses that all the tribes of Israel appeared before God at the sanctuary of Shechem.
24.2 The use of the special messenger formula thus says the LORD signals that Joshua speaks as a prophet.
24.3 The River signifies the Euphrates. What the Lord did for Abraham foreshadows Israel’s potential future: all the land of Canaan…made his offspring many.
24.6–7 A compact paraphrase of Ex 14, including the shielding darkness mentioned in Ex 14.20.
24.9 Balak…set out to fight. The story of Balaam is reported in Num 22–24. See also 13.22.
24.11 The Israelite takeover west of the Jordan is here represented entirely by the capture of Jericho. That the citizens of Jericho fought suggests reliance on a tradition different from that in chs. 2 and 6.
24.12 The referent of the hornet (see also Ex 23.28; Deut 7.20) is unclear. It may be a metaphor for panic (cf. 10.10). Two kings of the Amorites. Sihon (12.2; 13.10, 27) and Og (12.4; 13.12, 30–31).
24.13 An echo of Deut 6.10–11.
24.14–15 All three possible choices for alternative gods have proven to be ineffectual. The Lord took Abraham from the territory of the gods beyond the River (v. 2), and neither the gods of Egypt nor the gods of the Amorites could protect their peoples (vv. 5–7, 8–13).
24.15 Choose. The issue is not monotheism in the abstract but allegiance in concrete particularity.
24.17–18 The bulk of the people’s response is a polished rhetorical piece, the irreducible minimum of Joshua’s recital in vv. 2b–13.
24.19 You cannot serve the LORD. Joshua unexpectedly warns of the difficulties and dangers implicit in the commitmen
t the people have just made. Israel’s danger stems from the Lord’s character as a jealous God, one who is zealous about remaining Israel’s only God.
24.22 To serve him. Joshua rules out any other possible motive for choosing the Lord. We are witnesses. Cf. Ruth 4.9–11.
24.23 Incline your hearts. The heart was understood as the place of the mind and will, the center of decision making. Joshua calls for personal conviction, not just outward conformity (1 Kings 8.58). The ultimatum to put away the foreign gods may reflect a practice of burying idols at Shechem (Gen 35.2–4).
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